“You were right respecting the nature of my support
under this affliction; there is but one source of consolation, and of that
source I have drunk largely. When you shall see how I had spoken of my
happiness but a few weeks ago, you will read with tears of sorrow what I wrote
with tears of joy. And little did I think how soon and how literally another
part of this mournful poem was to be fulfilled, when I said in it—

‘To earth I should have sunk in my despair,

Had I not claspt the Cross, and been supported there.’

“I thank God for the strength with which we have borne
this trial. It is not possible for woman to have

168

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE

Ætat. 42.

acted
with more fortitude than Edith has done
through the whole sharp suffering; she has rather set an example than followed
it. My bodily frame is much shaken. A little time and care will recruit it, and
the mind is sound. I am fully sensible of the blessings which are left me,
which far exceed those of most men. I pray for continued life that I may fulfil
my duties towards those whom I love. I employ myself, and I look forward to the
end with faith and with hope, as one whose treasure is laid up in Heaven; and
where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.

“At present it would rather do me hurt than good to
see you. I am perfectly calm and in full self-possession; but I know my own
weakness as well as my strength, and the wholesomest regimen for a mind like
mine, is assiduous application to pursuits which call forth enough of its
powers to occupy without exhausting it. It is well for me that I can do this. I
take regular exercise and am very careful of myself.

“Many will feel for me, but none can tell what I have
lost: the head and flower of my earthly happiness is cut off. But I am not
unhappy.

“God bless you!

R. S.”

Edith Southey [née Fricker] (1774-1837)
The daughter of Stephen Fricker, she was the first wife of Robert Southey and the mother
of his children; they married in secret in 1795.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.

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INFORMATION FROM TEI HEADER

Source Description:

Authors:
Charles Cuthbert Southey; Robert Southey

Title:The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey (London: 1849-1850).

Electronic Edition:

Series: Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org

Encoding Description: Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed. Obvious and unambiguous compositors’ errors have been silently corrected.

Markup and editing by: David Hill Radcliffe

Completed October 2011

Publication Statement:

Publisher: Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech